Upcycling spent brewery grains through the production of carbon adsorbents—application to the removal of carbamazepine from water

Spent brewery grains, a by-product of the brewing process, were used as precursor of biochars and activated carbons to be applied to the removal of pharmaceuticals from water. Biochars were obtained by pyrolysis of the raw materials, while activated carbons were produced by adding a previous chemica...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science and pollution research international 2020-10, Vol.27 (29), p.36463-36475
Main Authors: Sousa, Andreia F. C., Gil, María Victoria, Calisto, Vânia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activated carbon
Activation
Adsorbents
Adsorption
Adsorptivity
Aquatic Pollution
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Breweries
Brewing
Carbamazepine
Charcoal
Earth and Environmental Science
Ecotoxicology
Environment
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Health
Environmental science
Fermentation
Phosphoric acid
Potash
Potassium
Potassium hydroxide
Potassium hydroxides
Precursors
Pyrolysis
Raw materials
Research Article
Sodium hydroxide
Waste Water Technology
Wastewater
Water Management
Water Pollution Control
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Summary:Spent brewery grains, a by-product of the brewing process, were used as precursor of biochars and activated carbons to be applied to the removal of pharmaceuticals from water. Biochars were obtained by pyrolysis of the raw materials, while activated carbons were produced by adding a previous chemical activation step. The influence of using different precursors (from distinct fermentation processes), activating agents (potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, and phosphoric acid), pyrolysis temperatures, and residence times was assessed. The adsorbents were physicochemically characterized and applied to the removal of the antiepileptic carbamazepine from water. Potassium hydroxide activation produced the materials with the most promising properties and adsorptive removals, with specific surface areas up to 1120 m 2 g −1 and maximum adsorption capacities up to 190 ± 27 mg g −1 in ultrapure water. The adsorption capacity suffered a reduction of < 70% in wastewater, allowing to evaluate the impact of realistic matrices on the efficiency of the materials.
ISSN:0944-1344
1614-7499
DOI:10.1007/s11356-020-09543-0